Call Me Maybe?
by Xazz
Summary: Of all the people to leave alone in a strange city and expect to find where he's supposed to meet people Rauf is at the very bottom of the list. -oneshot-


Rauf was lost, again. Quite possibly Rauf had the worst sense of direction of anyone in their little company and when they'd come to Istanbul to have a meeting in person with the people who wanted to merge with them, they of course let Rauf alone by himself. Now he was lost in Istanbul. His only saving grace was that he spoke Arabic, but Arabic was not Turkish; close, but not quite. He also didn't have cell phone service in this country and his boss was too cheap to get any of them a plan while here, meaning they needed to use land lines. Rauf didn't remember the last time he'd seen a ground line back home, let alone actually used one.

The only good part about being lost in Istanbul was just that: you were lost in Istanbul, the jewel of the middle east. Or something like that, at some point in time. It was a gorgeous city, full of life and noise, the streets off the main roads tight and twisted. Rauf managed to keep to main roads where cars could go. He'd yet to see a cab though. He needed to find a phone more like though, try and contact the others and get to where he needed to go.

He found a tea shop that looked okay and went in. The place smelled strongly of tea and all along the back wall were canisters of dried tea leaves. He could also smell the strong aroma of turkish coffee. In the front, under glass, they had baklava and pastries. No one was in the place except for one man behind the counter, he was doodling on an order pad but looked up when the bell on the door rang.

"Hello sir," the man said, in Turkish, but Rauf could sort of understand him.

"Hello," Rauf said, "I was wondering," all he had was Arabic but from the way the man didn't appear confused clearly he knew Arabic too, "could I use your phone?"

"Phone's for customers only," the man was speaking Arabic now; oh thank goodness. The man had a cunning smile to him, one that turned his mouth into a crescent.

"I'll have a coffee," Rauf sighed, "no, actually I'll have a tea."

"What sort?"

Rauf looked at their selection, "I don't know," he said helplessly, "something to help with stress."

"I can do that," he said and pulled down a glass container. Rauf stayed right where he was, he was the only one there after all. "What do you need to use the phone for?" they asked him.

"I need to call my coworkers. I'm lost," he sighed.

"Ah. Well there are few places better to be lost in than Istanbul," and the man's eyes were bright and cheerful. "It's a beautiful city."

"It is," Rauf agreed and the man set a mug full of hot water in front of him, a little infuser ball half full of tea leaves was already in the mug, the little metal chain hanging off the side.

"Drink you tea first," the server said, "you'll feel better."

Rauf sighed but he knew the man was right. "Probably," he said, "How much?" and he paid simply before taking his tea to a table and sat down. He added some sugar to his tea and sipped it, looking out the window at the traffic and people walking. While he drank his tea someone came in, ordered a strong coffee and left with it in a styrofoam cup. Rauf hadn't seen a styrofoam cup in a long time back home. The tea was good and while hot it didn't make him feel uncomfortable, probably thanks to the window AC that was chugging away to keep the place cool against the Turkish heat.

Once he finished his tea he felt significantly better and went to give the mug back, "So, that phone?" he asked.

"Of course," and they produced a wireless phone that looked like something out of the early two-thousands.

Rauf took the phone and went back to his table, pulling out a notebook he kept important messages or notes in and looked for the phone number of the place they were supposed to go. He dialed the number and asked for one of the others. The phone was given to Malik. "Hello?" Malik asked.

"Malik, it's Rauf," he said in English.

"Rauf? Where are you?" he cried.

"I... got lost," he admitted.

Malik groaned over the phone, "You idiot."

"You're the one who let me find the place on my own!" Rauf reminded him.

"Where are you?" Malik said, calming himself.

"I don't know..."

"Perfect. Do you remember where we're going at least?"

"... No," Malik sighed and told Rauf and he wrote it down.

"I'll tell them you'll be late. Next time I'm chaining you to Altair so you don't get lost," he scolded Rauf.

"At least it won't be Abbas-

"I'll chain you you Abbas if you get Altair lost!"

Rauf groaned, "Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll just... find a cab," he rubbed his temple, a headache that he'd been getting before his tea was slowly coming back. "Tell them I'm sorry for being late."

"Yeah yeah, just get here. I have to go," and he hung up before Rauf could say anything, Malik had been pissed. Rauf groaned again and rubbed his face.

"Everything all right?" he turned when the barista asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine," Rauf sighed and got up, taking the phone and his notebook with him to the counter. "Do you know where this place is?" he asked, showing him the address.

His eyes lit up, "Yes," he nodded, "it's actually pretty close to here. I could show you if you wanted."

"Ah- aren't you working?"

"I can take a break."

"Is it walking distance?" the man nodded. "Oh... thank you. That would be greatly appreciated-

"Yusuf," he supplied.

"Rauf," Rauf said.

"Let me close up real quick and I'll show you," Yusuf said and before Rauf could stop him pulled off the button up shirt he was wearing. Underneath was a T-shirt of some American band Rauf had actually never heard of. Yusuf took the phone, put it in the cradle and went into the side room. He heard Yusuf yell something in Turkish to someone- maybe upstairs?- before coming back out fitting a brightly colored headband on his head to control his unruly, curly, black hair he'd previously worn in a ponytail. "C'mon," Yusuf grinned and Rauf grabbed his stuff and followed Yusuf out of the shop. He locked the door after him.

"Thanks for doing this for me," Rauf said as he followed after Yusuf.

"No problem," Yusuf said brightly. "Better than standing behind a counter all day. What are you doing in Istanbul?"

"Here for work."

"That is no fun at all!" Yusuf frowned at him.

Rauf shrugged, "Has to be done," couldn't be helped.

"Yes I suppose, one must work. But are you enjoying the city?"

"Haven't seen much of it other than today," Rauf said as they waited to cross the street. Cars zipped by in a hurry only to get stopped by a light a block down.

"How long have you been here?"

"Few days-

"And you haven't seen the sights?" Yusuf asked, sounded scandalized as they walked quickly across the street so they didn't end up getting hit by cars.

"No," Rauf shook his head, "Haven't had time."

"That's a shame," Yusuf said. "It's just down the street here," Yusuf said pointing and Rauf followed him.

"This is a lot faster than I thought," Rauf said. "I was going to wait for a cab or something."

Yusuf laughed, "No, no. Faster to just walk in this part of the city. Very few cabs."

"I noticed," Rauf said. "Thanks again," he added.

"It's no problem," Yusuf assured him. They arrived at the building a few minutes later, "Here you are," Altair and Abbas were waiting inside the door, he could hear them arguing about something and Malik wasn't around to break them up and make them play nice. "They your friends?"

"Coworkers," Rauf sighed, yes his friends when they didn't bother the hell out of him.

Yusuf made a face, "My sympathies," he said and then Altair noticed Rauf outside and broke off his argument with Abbas. He motioned through the door.

"Well I better go, you're a lifesaver," Rauf said.

Yusuf grinned, "Think nothing of it. And," he suddenly grabbed Rauf's hand and pushed the sleeve of his suit jacket up a bit, took out a pen and wrote on the inside of his wrist his name and then a phone number under it, "if you get lost again, or you want to see Istanbul; call me," he winked at Rauf and then walked off. Rauf just gaped after him, too surprised to move.

The door of the building opened, "Rauf, you coming?" Altair asked.

"Yeah," Rauf said and entered the building, looking at the inside of his wrist.

"What's that?" Abbas asked him.

"Uh," Rauf tried to tug his sleeve down but Altair grabbed it and tugged it up again.

"You got someone's number," Altair said and actually sounded impressed. "Look Abbas," he showed Rauf's wrist to Abbas.

"Yes yes thank you both," Rauf said irritably and yanked his wrist back from Altair.

"Wow al-Naib, who knew you had it in you," Abbas mocked him.

"Oi, three stooges," they all looked when Malik called them, "Meeting's starting, get in here."

"Coming," Rauf said and headed for Malik quickly, if only to get away from Altair and Abbas.

"You're on time," Malik said, surprised and impressed.

"Someone showed me the way-

"He got some guy's phone number," Altair called. Malik looked at Rauf with raised brows. Rauf just groaned, rolled his eyes, and pushed forward into the meeting room. One thing he didn't want to deal with were these guys acting like idiots because he got someone's number in a city they were doing business in. He'd never be able to live it down; even less so if he didn't call it. He'd deal with that after the meeting.


End file.
